David Perry Unveils OnLive Competitor

Reacting to yesterday's announcement of OnLive, a cloud-computing based system for videogames on demand, outspoken industry figure David Perry revealed his own plans for a similar, better service.

After seven years in development, OnLive was unveiled at this year's Game Developers Conference as a system that could potentially end the constant cycling of PC and console hardware. Co-creator Steve Perlman predicted that the current console generation will be the last, as gamers adopt streaming, on-demand services like his that will let people play high-end videogames without having to invest in costly hardware.

But OnLive apparently isn't alone in trying to crack the on-demand gaming nut: David Perry, creator of Earthworm Jim, MDK and Messiah who now serves as the chief creative officer at Acclaim, responded to the announcement by revealing that he has a company of his own working on a similar system, but one that avoids the potential pitfalls facing OnLive.

He was reluctant to let the news slip but felt he had no choice. "I was going to reveal it at [E3], but the OnLive news has forced my hand," he said. While the OnLive system requires a small download, Perry claims his system works without any downloaded software at all. Users just need a broadband connection to get up and running.

Perry said he's filed for patents on his technology and plans on raising venture capital in the future, which will allow him to hire more programmers. He also needs to make a deal with a major internet provider so he can actually develop a games-on-demand service based on the technology. In other words, he's got a long way to go to catch up to OnLive, which is demonstrating 16 games this week at GDC. But his commitment to the idea, functionally similar if technologically different, is another sign that this could very well be the future of videogames.